(Image source from: PTI)
The Election Commission has announced that voting for 26 positions in the Rajya Sabha will take place. This is part of the elections that happen every two years for the upper house of parliament. The polls for these 26 positions are set to occur in 12 different states. Many MPs are about to finish their terms; this group includes former prime minister Deve Gowda, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, and two Union ministers, Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian. In the states where voting will happen, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka will each choose four members; Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will pick three members each, and Jharkhand will select two. Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh each have one position. By-elections will also happen for one position each in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu on June 18.
Out of the 26 positions being voted on, the NDA currently holds 18, the Congress has 4, YSR Congress has 3, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha holds one. However, after the elections, it is expected that the NDA will lose one position, reducing their total to 17, while the Congress is predicted to increase from 4 to 5. At the same time, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is anticipated to win two positions. Furthermore, the party of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, TVK, is likely to obtain one position, as is the Ajit Pawar group from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). These two positions are the ones involved in the upcoming by-elections, and the terms for these will last only two years. Currently, of the total 244 positions in the Rajya Sabha, the NDA controls 149, while the Opposition holds 78. There are also 17 positions occupied by parties that do not align with either the NDA or the Opposition alliance INDIA. Since the DMK has left the INDIA alliance, these numbers might change again. Of the four positions in Karnataka, it is expected that three will go to the Congress and one to the BJP.
In both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which each have three seats, it is anticipated that the BJP will get two seats while the Congress will take one in each state. Additionally, the BJP is expected to win all four seats in Gujarat, making it the first occasion where the Congress won’t have any Member of Parliament from Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha. In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party is projected to secure all four seats. In Jharkhand, the partnership between the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress is likely to win both available seats; sources from the Congress indicate that the party might ask Chief Minister Hemant Soren for one of these seats.
There is also a Member of Parliament from another state, whose term is ending soon, reportedly interested in being elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. The BJP might choose to put forward its own candidate in Jharkhand to challenge the JMM-Congress partnership through cross-voting, similar to their actions in Bihar. The BJP needs to obtain seats for two of its ministers, Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian. Given that assembly elections are on the horizon in Punjab next year, the BJP will likely aim to place Bittu in the Rajya Sabha.
It is almost guaranteed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will join the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, but there is a lot of uncertainty about the nomination of Kamal Nath from Madhya Pradesh. The main concern is whether the BJP will support former Deve Gowda for a Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka, or if it will propose its own candidate, as the party can only win one seat from that state.
